Alone Now
by crochetaway
Summary: Hermione finds herself totally alone in the Forest of Dean. QLFC Season 5 Practice Round. Ballycastle Bats, Chaser 2. Oneshot. Complete.


**A/N: This is for QLFC Season 5 Practice Round. I'm Chaser 2 for the Ballycastle Bats (Go Bats!). The theme was 80's, my prompt was "I Think We're Alone Now" - Tiffany. Optional prompts I used were [color] Crimson, [word] Bitter, [object] Pocket Watch.**

 **Word Count: 1053**

 **Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Same with the Tiffany song, I don't own it! Just borrowed it. Sorry if it's now stuck in your head (it's totally stuck in mine...)**

 **This is completely unbetad, all mistakes are mine.**

* * *

Hermione was running flat out and tried to keep from tripping over the deadfall and downed trees in the Forest of Dean. She was breathing heavy and couldn't keep track of the direction Harry and Ron had chosen. Harry had triggered the taboo not two minutes ago and they had been immediately set upon by Snatchers. Ron had told her to run as fast as she could and they would try to distract the Snatchers from her. Hermione didn't want to abandon her friends, but Ron had spent some time among the Snatchers after he had left in the fall and he had told Hermione and Harry the stories from the time. Ron wouldn't risk Hermione after he had seen the way the Snatchers had treated other women.

Hermione risked a look over her shoulder and could see the one wearing her scarf catching up to her. She flung a _Bombarda_ at him over her shoulder and put on a burst of speed. Her lungs felt like they were about to burst. Hermione was out of shape. They had been on short rations for more than six months. She knew she wasn't going to be able to sustain this pace.

After risking another look and seeing the Snatcher gaining on her, Hermione turned around to find she had run herself right into a tree. She stopped to avoid hitting it and in that moment the Snatcher caught up to her.

"I think we're alone now," he huffed into her ear as he slammed her against the tree. His hands grasped hers and held them above her head.

Ridiculously, Hermione got the song stuck in her head. "Get off me," she growled out, bucking herself to try and dislodge the Snatcher. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo. She wasn't going to let this happen to her. She just wasn't.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone else around," the Snatcher replied back. Pushing her even further into the tree with his hips. Hermione cringed but held back the sob that threatened to escape.

 _Is he really quoting that dumb song to me?_ Hermione tried kicking his shins, but he kicked her own legs apart and stepped between them. He pressed himself even closer to her.

"Let me go!" Hermione shouted as she tried twisting in his embrace. All she ended up doing was scraping her cheek against the bark of the tree. The small scrape broke the skin and Hermione could just see the crimson of her blood out of the corner of her eye.

"I think we're alone now," he groaned into her. He whispered something else that Hermione didn't catch and she found her hands tied above her. The Snatcher had his hands around her waist now.

"Enough with the damned song!" Hermione shouted at him as she kept twisting and turning trying to evade his wandering hands.

"The beating of our hearts is the only sound," he murmured as he succeeded in getting her jacket unzipped.

"Stop! Just stop!" Hermione cried out bitterly. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

Suddenly the weight at her back was gone and she heard a thump. Her hands were still caught above her head and she twisted around to see Fenrir Greyback pointing his wand at the Snatcher on the ground behind her.

Illogically, Greyback pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it. He frowned for a moment and then muttered a spell that released Hermione's hands before he apparated himself and the Snatcher away. Hermione found herself alone in the Forest of Dean. She stayed put and spent some time trying to catch her breath. She couldn't believe that they had just let her go.

When her breathing had calmed she picked up her wand. She had dropped it in the struggle with the Snatcher and was relieved to see that it was still safe and whole. She slowly began making her way back toward where she thought the camp with the boys was. She didn't come across another person. She could see evidence of a scuffle and her desperate flee through the forest. When she reached camp, everything was still there. Undisturbed. But Harry and Ron were nowhere to be found. She was utterly alone in the world and had nowhere to go.

 _Oh, gods,_ she thought to herself, _what am I going to do?_ She ran to the tent and dug out the radio that Ron still listened to on a religious basis. She hoped she would find some news if she could find the Potterwatch program. She looked around her campsite. She couldn't leave. What if Harry and Ron came back? She had to stay. She dug through the beaded bag she kept on her person at all times and found an old sock with a Gryffindor crest on it. She stuck it to a nearby tree with a permanent sticking charm. Then she began setting the wards on the camp. Making it invisible, setting the Muggle deterrent charms, silencing charms and she even threw in the _Muffliato_ for good effect. She had no idea how it would work in the forest, maybe it would mimic forest sounds? Animals and the wind and creaking trees. She didn't know. She did know she couldn't risk leaving.

Once all the wards were set. She set one final one. One that would ding in her ear if anyone or anything came within a meter of the edge of her wards. She huddled into the tent and listened to the radio. She wished she had paid more attention to Ron and how he found the Potterwatch program. She knew it switched up frequently and Ron had finally figured out the system they were using. But Hermione hadn't paid enough attention.

When she finally found it, she tapped her wand and whispered, "McKinnon." It was that episode's password. She was thankful she had paid enough attention to the program to at least know the password of the next. She listened to the name of the dead, fearing she was going to hear Harry and Ron's. When she didn't she breathed a sigh of relief. But nothing else on the program told her the whereabouts of her best friends. And Hermione didn't know how to go about finding anyone in the Order. She was truly alone.


End file.
